Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sidney High School (SHS) juniors took the ACT on testing day, March 19. Principal Chris Arent is excited about seeing the scores from this year’s test when the complete results are released by the end of summer.
Arent said that the Sidney school district is consistently in the top 10 highest ACT scores, and the students have done well in the past so he anticipates the same with this year’s scores.
The Sidney School District is the smallest of eight all-size districts that are part of the Nebraska Department of Education’s (NDE) “pilot program.” This program is a three-year study that will determine what benefits there are for juniors who take the ACT.
The pilot program will also see if there is a change in numbers when every student participates in the test.
College entrance exam content and awarded scholarships are based on ACT scores.
Principal Arent added that the ACT commission dictates when the main testing day is, and they also set the makeup day for testing. On the main testing day, March 19, the Sidney School District saw 100 percent participation.
According to Arent, during a meeting with the other seven districts that are involved in the pilot program and the NDE, the SHS student’s scores were the highest of all the other schools that had 100 percent participation on testing day.
Arent is pleased with the SHS scores in comparison with the other districts; he said that the students are “doing a very good job with tests.”
According to Arent, students who didn’t originally plan to attend college sometimes change their minds after scoring high on the ACT and other students will see the areas where they need to work harder.
In addition to the ACT, Arent says that the NESA writing test for juniors has already taken place, and that the three remaining portions (math, reading and science) will be given on three consecutive Wednesdays, beginning on April 10.
The Nebraska Department of Education is looking at replacing the NESA with the ACT, if they deem it beneficial when comparing the ACT and NESA scores.
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